One Utah -- What Terrorist Want.

I read this post over at One Utah. I actually found the post remarkably insightful, because it brings up some strong truths about the nature of terrorism. It is true that the terrorist have succeeded in making us reliquish many of our freedoms, and change our behavior out of fear. I agree that in some respects that this fear has gotten out of hand. I get tired of every single abandoned duffle bag making breaking news, and every nutcase getting news publicity for saying bomb or Al Qaeda on a plane. It is fairly inconvienent to fly because of extrenuous security measures such as disallowing hair gel or bottled water. It is rather firightening to hear some conservatives far to willing to accept and allow the Federal government to rescind many civil liberties in the name of safety. However, what is the best course for us on the home front to take in order to be safe while living free and proud.

Do we drop our guard and go back to a care free pre 9-11 state of mind, or do we accept Bush administration rhetoric that we must allow the government to wiretape without warrents, and to strip personal freedoms in order to avoid violence or death. This dilemma reminds me of "I, Robot," Bush is the Main Robot who discovers a paradox in its duties and thus reasons that in order to protect and defend the nation and the constitution of the United States, some parts of the constitution need be ignored and personal freedoms need to be stripped to keep the American people safe. I think (in part) our country is being ruled by fear, but I don't think that that fear should be ignored.

We must remember that the terrorists do seek for attacks that are as bloody and terrible as possible, and they do consider the size and quantity of the damage and death as an important factor in planning terror attacks. Closing our eyes ignorantly to that fact would be highly dangerous. I don't believe that we should abandon the War on Terror in Iraq or Afghanistan, and I don't believe that their was any reason for the war in Iraq other than we had intelligence that led our leaders to believe to a reasonable (though flawed) certainty that Iraq was trying to attain WMD's. With an increasingly dangerous Iran, it would be disasterous for us to leave Iraq before the Iraqis are strong enough to govern and protect themselves. We must be careful to fight terrorism to keep American lives safe, but I think its a tragedy that many American's seem to be living their lives ruled by fear -- fear of terrorism, and an impending apocalypes from any one of several directions.